Age 761
Planet Boiler
"You are amusing..."
Without any notice, Trombone suddenly smashed his elbow across Articho's face, moving faster than the Saiyan could even register, and sent his opponent flying. Like a ragdoll, he crashed onto the ruins of the palace, rolling for several meters until finally coming to a full stop.
"Do you truly not feel fear? Even now, you should be able to tell that I am not using anywhere near my full strength against you – and it doesn't even matter, any technique you use will bounce off my body without any permanent harm! Who do you think you are fooling?!" Trombone yelled across the battlefield, his voice growing increasingly frustrated.
Fighting against the pain, Articho lunged back at Trombone, throwing a punch with his right fist, but the Namekian stepped out of its way. A few more punches came in until Trombone grabbed both of the Saiyan's shoulders and smashed his forehead into his skull.
"It can't just be blind loyalty to your ruler. Even the dumbest soldier would see where the wind is blowing and reconsider his actions. Especially someone with as much potential as you!"
"Yeah..." Articho mumbled out, weakly, while stumbling backwards from the head smash and clutching onto his bleeding forehead. "You're part right. I couldn't possibly be doing this for Frieza. He's a maniac, a genocidal one..."
"Oh?"
"But as much as I hate to admit it, I am a Saiyan warrior... and, at this point, one of the strongest of my kind in history. By nature, we crave challenge like this, it makes us stronger – and this is a greater challenge than any other. It's as if my fear receptors refuse to work, demanding me to figure a way out of this mess somehow..."
For a few seconds, Trombone stared the defiant Saiyan down in silence. Then, he struck his foot into Articho's face to smash him to the ground.
"Your purpose to me is not to be excited. Your purpose is to feel fear! I will show you fear!"
With one hand, Trombone began gathering an energy blast, drawing more and more power in front of his fingertips, and tossed the attack forward. It consumed everything in front of him in a bright explosion, burning through the rubble and remains of the palace, and leaving an empty plain in the aftermath. Articho's energy vanished from his standing spot – however, he was not out of the fight just yet.
"What did I tell you, Captain?" Margar called out. Holding the Saiyan by the arm, he was floating above the blast radius and watching the battlefield. Speaking slowly and with pauses, Articho answered:
"What...? I've not lost the fight yet..."
"His power level is well past twenty thousand at this point. He seems to be one of those types who hide their true battle power," Caesa suddenly declared – he was floating on the other side of the battlefield, with Gomana on his shoulder – she wasn't beaten as much as the Captain, but the unexpected explosive burst did a number on her regardless.
"You know, I am right here," Trombone suddenly called out, watching the rest of the Articho Force arrive from the ground with his arms folded. "And it is rude to talk about someone while they're in front of you."
Margar let go of Articho and rushed forward.
"How about you talk to this fist!" With full force, he sent a powerful blow straight at the Namekian's chest, pushing him back across the rubble and fallen debris for several metres.
The cheesy comment got Caesa and Gomana to look at one another, and the woman soldier to sigh.
Trombone recovered from the initial blow and charged back at Margar, meeting fist for fist and causing a shockwave across the ruins. After this clash, the two warriors flew to the air, trading blows across the sky. Still, while Margar was attacking as hard and fast as he could, Trombone didn't appear to be exerting himself all that much.
"Certainly, you're strong, but-"
Taking advantage of Trombone's speaking, Margar sent a powerful downwards smash into his face, flinging him away. The warlord reappeared behind his opponent in a flash, however, and kicked him down to the ground with a powerful strike.
Smirking, Trombone floated down to the surface, where Margar was already pulling a piece of a pillar off himself and standing back up for battle. The two warriors clashed their arms against one another, but right as Trombone raised his other fist for a downwards slam, Articho suddenly grabbed it by the wrist and pulled it back, forcing the attack to a stop. He was followed by a slash from Gomana's energy greatsword, cleaving through the Namekian's neck from behind. Trombone's head fell to the ground, whereas the body stumbled back and wavered, until it got kicked into a pile of rubble by Gomana.
The head rolled to Articho's feet, where the Saiyan picked it up with one hand and began gathering energy in another, ready to blast it apart. Suddenly, however, the head began to speak:
"There is one thing that still interests me, however..."
"Huh?"
"Uh, is it supposed to do that...?" Gomana called out, staring in shock as the decapitated body pulled itself out of the rubble and began walking forward. Ignoring that, Trombone continued:
"Knowing that your demise is certain, you resist me because you are a Saiyan warrior, and yet you tell me that you despise that part of yourself. What... is the story there?"
Articho stared at the head, then towards the approaching Namekian body, it was swatting away both Gomana and Margar away whenever they tried to stop it.
"There isn't much of a story behind it. All I have heard of my people, ever since they first discovered me, is that they are brutes, simple, yearning for nothing but battle... That's not who I want to be. I am refined, intelligent – and I won't allow myself to be consumed by this nature, even if I dip into it."
Trombone's body was already a mere few meters away from Articho, ready to grab its head and attach it back to its body. The Saiyan suddenly leapt back – and tossed the head as far away as he could, chucking it towards the horizon. The way how Trombone's body fought to reattach itself to its head... it gave him an interesting idea.
"Everyone!" he yelled as soon as he activated his scouter's communications. "I want you to listen to my orders very closely!"
Trombone may be immortal, but he was not unbeatable – and seeing how his immortality worked formulated a plan in Articho's mind.
"Gomana! Caesa! Restrain him!"
"Right!" both yelled in unison. Before Trombone's body could fly off in search of its head, the two soldiers activated their abilities – Caesa his psychokinesis, and Gomana her threads. Individually, each of them would have probably been broken by Trombone's sheer force without much resistance, but working together and catching him off guard restrained him for some time.
"Margar! When I fire, join with me!"
"Got it!"
The energy that Articho had gathered in his palm before – and, he immediately began pouring in more, then withdrew his hand back and yelled:
"Flash Cannon!"
Immediately joined by Margar's energy wave, the Flash Cannon slammed into Trombone's restrained body, a powerful clash that sent shockwaves rolling across the entire surrounding landscape. Boulders and rock formations crumbled from the pressure, and the Boilers living underground fled in terror, seeing their caves start to collapse.
"Gomana, Caesa, release your restraints!"
Right as the psychic grip and the threads were removed, Trombone was picked up to the sky, carried by the Flash Cannon like a comet.
And now, for the final step...
Suddenly, Articho threw both of his arms downwards. Following that movement, the Flash Cannon changed direction and crashed into the ground. Burrowing a long hole through the planet's crust, it soon vanished from sight, and rock from the surroundings began falling downwards to start filling it up.
"So... wait, what was the plan?" Margar asked. Heavily breathing, now completely exhausted, Articho answered:
"Trombone... is immortal. But, he still seems to operate under our laws of physics, and needs to stitch himself together to return to one piece... So... getting decapitated and both his pieces separated by a thousand kilometres of rock should... keep him down for some time..."
"But... that's not victory!" Caesa yelled, landing in front of the Saiyan. "He's going to come back, eventually!"
"If we return to Lord Frieza and he is informed that we did not take down our target, he is going to have our heads," Margar added. The entire team was staring at their Captain, waiting for any answers – however, they were not going to receive any.
"I'll... I'll figure it out..."
Articho collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness.
Time ticked slowly on Planet Frieza 79. Members of the Frieza Force across the Galaxy quickly get used to its claustrophobic corridors and clean halls – though bases and outposts owned by the Emperor of the Universe were plentiful, only one held the honor of being the central nexus. Frieza and his spaceship visited the planet rarely, but whenever he did, it was on important business – meetings with important local rulers, planning major planetary campaigns with his closest underlings, so on and so forth. Frieza 79 has not had a native population for centuries – it had been wiped out by the Emperor's forces a long time ago, and replaced with a world dotted by defense installations, outposts, and barracks for a galaxy conquering army. Most of the surface of the world was covered by sentient-made structures, the recognizable white domes and spires visible from afar.
Deep within one of these towers, a healing chamber beeped and began to drain the bubbling green liquid storing the patient. Articho slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times before he finally realized that he was standing inside a chamber, once again in the safety of the Frieza Force hub world. A bird-like scientist was working on the machine and activated the door to let the Saiyan out of the chamber as soon as the last liquid drained away through the pipes.
"Huh," Articho muttered to himself, stepping onto the cold floor of the medical bay, looking down at his hand, and briefly clenching it into a fist. "For a second, I thought I was going to wake up somewhere a lot worse."
"What?" the scientist asked, confused.
"Nothing."
Intending to let the conversation pass, Articho picked up the fresh jumpsuit and Battle Armor jacket left behind next to the healing chamber, pulling on the uniform immediately.
"Ah, yes, two things..." the scientist suddenly added. "One, as you requested before, we scanned your battle power immediately when your healing process was complete. It seems that you and the other Saiyans' theory is correct – being defeated to an inch of your lives and then recovering back to full capacity not only recovers your power, but grants you a significant power boost."
"So it seems..." Articho answered as he pulled on his white gloves – then, with this knowledge firmly in the back of his mind, he squeezed his fist to let his energy flow through his body freely. It almost felt a little exhilarating, even if the newly gained power didn't quite leave the rest of the team in the dust yet. Still, I can't allow myself to grow overconfident. The mere fact that it requires near death to be activated means that I shouldn't abuse this. Though... I'm guessing the rest of my kind aren't going to follow that common sense.
"Ah, yes, and the second thing... Lord Frieza demands to see you over the teletransmitter, immediately."
"Ah..."
Well, at least he left the bad news for last.
Articho pulled his armour over his shoulder and popped his scouter onto his ear. He had no idea what to expect from the call – but, at minimum, he was certain he wasn't going to die today. As far as he was aware, Frieza should not have the ability to kill people over visual feed.
Not counting heart ruptures from the terror, that is.
Immediately as the Captain of the Articho Force ran into a secluded room within the outpost and the door behind him closed shut, he dropped onto his knee and yelled:
"I am here, Lord Frieza!"
A large screen was installed on the wall facing the door, displaying the insides of a spaceship, with three armoured individuals staring straight into the Saiyan's soul. Frieza, the Emperor of the Universe, the terror of any living being who hears that name, never appeared all that intimidating – the small, pink-white, horned alien sitting in a hoverchair might have appeared like a joke compared to his two closest subordinates standing directly behind him, Zarbon and Dodoria. However, underestimating him was a mistake, and anyone who committed that mistake didn't tend to live for long. The Galaxy counted dozens, if not hundreds of planets that he has destroyed with a single finger, and no one except members of his own family ever pushed him to spend any effort in battle.
It certainly didn't help, and made it all the more infuriating to Articho, that all this godlike power was wasted on a walking talking temper tantrum. Someone everyone had to dance around and appease to save their lives.
Were it not for that godlike power, this entire empire would have collapsed long ago. So brutal and ineffective, with an emperor who happily executes those with high potential and keeps around the most slavish brownnosers. An emperor who is ignorant of what could truly make an empire rise and prosper...
However, this discussion was not about that.
"Ah, Captain Articho," Frieza began, speaking with faux politeness. "I will get to the point. I have heard some terrible rumours that your so-called elite team was unable to defeat a mere warlord in a run-down, nearly lifeless sector of the Galaxy – and I have called you here that you could prove these rumours wrong and confirm that you completed the mission without incident."
Behind Frieza, Zarbon and Dodoria were smirking. Pushed into a corner immediately, Articho remained silent and kneeling for a few seconds, until he finally managed to answer:
"We... almost entirely completed our objectives, but we were faced with unexpected difficulties-"
"Difficulties, you say?" Frieza interrupted. "Because from what I heard, you failed to kill Trombone and your team retreated from his base world instead."
"It wasn't possible for us or anyone to kill Trombone, as he explained to us himself," Articho defended himself. He could tell Frieza's eyes were growing more and more furious, so he began speaking faster. "He has achieved immortality."
The mention of immortality suddenly ticked something in Frieza's mind.
"Oh? What gives you that idea?"
"Trombone explained it to us himself. I would not have believed it, but he followed his explanation by blowing his head off and growing it back, so he must have done something in that direction." While he was grasping at straws, an idea suddenly popped into Articho's mind. "You can read my scouter's communications if you wish to hear proof. I turned them on to speak to Gomana after Trombone's explosion attack, and they remained on throughout his explanation."
Zarbon leaned closer to Frieza to whisper something to the short emperor, too silently for Articho to hear.
"What did this Trombone mention about the method he used to acquire immortality?"
"From... what I understand, he used some sort of ritual on his home planet to do so. He mentioned artifacts called the "Dragon Balls", which he collected and used them to communicate with an entity called a "dragon". This dragon is able to fulfil any wish that the wielder of the Dragon Balls asks for."
"And did he say where these "Dragon Balls" could be found?"
"If I understood correctly, they are a feature of his home planet, Namek."
Frieza's previously dissatisfied lips curved into a faint smile. "Very interesting. I wasn't aware that this sort of magical power could be found in the Galaxy, but if your report is true, it should certainly be investigated."
Did... I do it? Talking about Trombone's immortality suddenly made Frieza's act a lot more nonchalant. "So... what is your judgment for our situation, Lord Frieza?"
"You have put me in a good mood, so you will be let go. For now."
Of course.
"But immortality is not an excuse for failure. I will require you and your team to return to the battlefield at the earliest possible opportunity and finish the job for good. I do not want some immortal pirate scum harassing me for centuries without being stopped."
That wasn't good, but that was going to be an issue to deal with later – and, perhaps he will be able to discover a solution that can actually kill Trombone in the meantime. It also meant that he, and his team, could live just for a little longer – so, he couldn't not take this opportunity.
"Understood, Lord Frieza. I will not let you down."
"You already have, Captain. Do not do so again."
The video transmission shut down, leaving Articho alone in the room, still kneeling, and retreating to his thoughts. Then, he stood back up, and silently departed.